Porsha Williams revealed that she underwent an emergency partial hysterectomy earlier that year after doctors discovered 21 uterine fibroids. The largest grew to the size of a cantaloupe.
Having battled severe fibroids since her late 20s, Williams had initially mistaken her worsening symptoms, including prolonged cycles, severe fatigue, and migraines, for early signs of perimenopause.
Appearing on CBS Mornings, Williams spoke to Gayle King about the emergency medical procedure.
“It all happened so fast. It really didn’t hit me until I woke up in the hospital bed,” Williams, who appeared in season four of “Traitors” and is currently on “Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip,” said in an exclusive “CBS Mornings” interview.
“I had symptoms but, you know, I’m 45 years old, and I’m thinking, oh, maybe perimenopause,” Williams added.
The fibroids were initially detected while she was facing fertility challenges while trying to conceive.
“I had never really heard of them or thought of them,” said Williams. “And then I went to the doctor, and I was pregnant, and that made her, again, do more checkups. She said, there’s a fibroid there.”
Though her doctor warned the fibroid might degenerate, it grew larger than the fetus at four months, causing a miscarriage. She later gave birth to her rainbow baby, daughter Pilar, in 2019.
“I’m thinking I’m done [with kids]. And I’m thinking I’m done. I had a divorce. I had my child, and I have a great support system,” she said.
After learning about egg freezing, Williams requested an exam, where her doctor quickly discovered the issue.
“She started looking into, you know, doing the exam, and she went silent. And I looked at the screen, and all I could see was, like, black, and then I started seeing some circular lines. And I’m like, ‘Not again. Not again.’ They had come back,” Williams said.
Following her ordeal. Williams said she wants to be an advocate for women who are facing the same issues.
“We have to stop diagnosing ourselves. There are so many different things when it comes to a woman that you need to get checked, and we need to learn to advocate for ourselves. If I saw somebody like me sitting here with you talking about fibroids, it would have clicked to ask for it. I had to ask my doctor to check for fibroids after something was wrong,” she said.